Sturgeon sends in the SAS
SKETCH: New education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville tries to head off another exams fiasco.
When in doubt, send in the SAS.
Shirley-Anne Somerville, recently deployed to the education brief by Nicola Sturgeon, has been tasked with cleaning up the mess left behind by her predecessor. It's a mission even the Regiment itself would have second thoughts about taking on, which is why an apt motto for Holyrood's SAS might be: Who Dares Can't Possibly Do Any Worse Than John Swinney.
In a statement yesterday on National Qualifications and appeals, Somerville, who had a previous stint as a higher education minister, noted that she had 'returned to the portfolio at such a critical time for Scottish education'. This was a polite way of saying the government's schools policy resembles the fall of Saigon, with the last remaining believers in the Curriculum for Excellence clambering onto the roof of St Andrew's House waiting for the Chinooks to arrive.
Commander Somerville was on pre-emptive manoeuvres, trying to head off the second exams catastrophe in as many years. As in 2020, pupils, parents and teachers tried to warn ministers in advance and ministers studiously did nothing until it was too late. Say what you like about this government, but at least it's consistent.
And it's consistently said that pupils would not be put through an examinations diet this year. Expecting youngsters to sit end-of-term school exams would be ridiculous, so instead they've been completing assessments in an institutional learning setting at a time coincidentally proximate to the conclusion of the academic year. The whippersnappers have cottoned on that these are exams by the backdoor and are in open rebellion, sharing the non-exam exam papers online. There are concerns that pupils' actions could undermine the value of assessments, which is after all the Scottish Qualifications Authority's job.
Last results day saw teachers' estimates for their pupils' performances overruled by the SQA's marking system. This year grades would be based on 'what each individual learner has demonstrated that they know, understand and can do, through the work on which they have been assessed', rather than 'use of an algorithm'. What a quaint little phrase. We were all shocked last year when that algorithm scrambled up the drainpipe at SQA HQ, jimmied open a window and changed 125,000 grades in the dead of night. If only the exams regulator could have seen that coming.
Somerville was keen to stress that this year's system had been 'agreed and co-produced' by 'the National Qualifications 2021 Group' and was the work of 'teachers, learners and parents working alongside local authorities, the SQA and the government'. Already Somerville is an infinitely more capable Education Secretary than John Swinney. She's started blame-shifting before there's any blame needing shifted.
The whole statement had the feel of a Nineties disaster flick where the asteroid has been on a collision course with Earth for a year and they only try blowing it up when it's five minutes away from flattening Los Angeles. Somerville no doubt suspects impact is coming and is scrambling the nukes with seconds left on the clock.
She has a tremendous gift for speaking in inoffensive monotone, and you find yourself nodding along just to get it over with. She's the human form of that terms and conditions box that pops up when you buy something online. Of course you haven't read it before clicking 'Agree'. If you read it, you'd never agree to it in a million years.
For instance, Somerville's announcement of a 'direct right of appeal' for pupils dissatisfied with their grades came with the small print: 'Appeal decisions will therefore be evidence based and symmetric, which means that grades can move down, move up or stay the same, depending on the review of the evidence.'
This is not about being 'evidence based'. This is about introducing a risk for pupils who might appeal and, in doing so, cause a political headache for the Scottish Government. If there was a Higher in cynicism, this lot would get a band-one A.
Originally published in the Scottish Daily Mail on June 3, 2021.